Attention all posters,

It is the open and voluntary sharing of your hair loss experiences with others that keeps our community vital and real.

However, recently some physicians and their patients have systematically used this and other discussion forums as promotional vehicles. Some physicians have even hired patients to promote them full or part time online.

I believe this commercialization of patients and their experiences puts other physicians in the position of either hiring their own patients to do the same, or to accept that they will have an unfair disadvantage on the forums.

The primary purpose of this forum is to allow patients to openly share their experiences, not to push a particular physician or clinic.

I feel, along with many on this community, that this voluntary sharing process is becoming tainted by the commercialization of this process.

To remedy this situation the following rules will apply to all new posts -

No more posts with links to outside websites will be permitted.

Patients have ample opportunities to share their stories, including their photos, directly on this forum. The new photo upload feature even allows patients to create slide shows.

In addition, patients can register as "Hair Mentors" and share their stories with photos, by signing up at http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/mentor/default.asp. No links to outside web sites will be permitted on these "Hair Mentor" pages either.

Those who violate these rules will have their information removed and will be given a warning. Subsequent violation will result in their suspension of their ability to post on this forum or register as a "Hair Mentor".

Links to web pages within this community (i.e. the Hair Transplant Network or the Hair Loss Learning Center) will continue to be acceptable.

Removing the ability for posters to divert visitors to outside websites with outside agendas will diminish the commercial value of posting on this community.

Those currently using signatures with promotional copy and or links to outside sites are requested to now remove them.

Thank you in advance for abiding by these rules.

Patrick Hennessey, Forum Moderator